St Helens in the Sun

The highlight of last week was a ride from Toutle to Mt. St. Helens on the Spirit Lake Memorial Hwy. According to my trip odometer, the round trip was 83.5 miles. This included a significant amount of climbing on the out leg, with some additional short climbs on the return leg. I peaked out at 43.5 mph, but was passed by a recumbent rider doing ~50. The sun was out and the day was warm. All I had to do was think about the temperatures at Western States and suddenly I was quite cool.
After a long climb to Goat Rock, you dropped elevation and then ascended some to Coldwater Ridge. This was followed by a short, fairly steep decent and long climb to the Johnston Ridge Observatory. Great day to be out. More photos are posted on my photo album connection.

Week of June 12-18

As I have little to write about, I will post a summary of last week's physical activities, such as they were:

6-12 45 min. spinning class
6-13 45 min. treadmill run, level 8 random - 6.3 miles
6-14 lunch with my wife (not much physical activity, but important for harmony at home)
6-15 three games of walleyball
6-16 two long games of racquetball
6-17 bike ride - 38.75 miles on Centennial Trail 2:02
6-18 bike ride - 31.75 miles on Cent. Trail and back roads around Lake Stevens 1:48

Of note: On Sunday's early morning bike ride I was returning from Arlington and saw a cougar on the trail. Very cool! Hope I didn't look too much like a deer;-) KRK

PS - Good luck to everyone headed to Western States. Wish I were joining you.

Copying TC

Well, I don't have much to post, so I will copy tc's weekly mileage log format:

June 5 - 52 minutes in spinning class - indicated 11.6 miles
June 6 - 0.6 mile warm-up for three games of walleyball
June 7 - 6.1 miles 45 minutes on treadmill - level 5 random (hills)
June 8 - three games of walleyball, no warm-up
June 9 - 4.2 miles 30 minutes on treadmill - level 6 random
June 11 - 11.0 miles 1:29:10 - ran from home, around lake and back

Totals - 21.9 miles of running, 11.6 miles of "biking" and six games of walleyball

Other news of note: Saturday watched my eldest daughter graduate from college.

Very sad news of note: Same day, neighbors daughter drowned in rafting accident on a river in Montana. Sarah had been on the local club swim team with my daughter Kelsey; had graduated from Lake Stevens High last year, and would have turned 19 this coming Friday.

No trails, no running - At least I was in the Cascades

Well, it was another biking weekend. Having not been on my bike since the NW Crank event at the end of April, it was naturally time to do a Century ride. So... I got up at 3:45 Saturday AM, had breakfast and drove to my friend Desmond's in Snohomish where we transferred my bike and stuff to his car and drove to Wenatchee. The weather in Wenatchee was sunny and clear and only a little cool. I had actually been given a bike club bib short and jersey set by a customer from San Francisco, so I at least looked like a bicycler. Not sure if I will ever get used to the clothing that bike riders wear. I guess the gaudier and brighter the colors, the more likely the drivers are to see you. Thankfully, there are no pictures of me in this get-up.

We started riding at ~7:30 and after an easy warm-up for the first few miles, I decided to pick up the pace at bit. Flat pavement and a slight tailwind made 23-25 mph feel pretty easy. Of course, it was early on too. The course then turned up the Entiat valley and went from flat to various uphill grades; nothing approaching the Nook Connector trail at Tiger, but enough to slow the pace significantly. The ride had aid stations at 24, 48, 52, and 76 miles. There was also a water stop with about 10 miles to go.

On trail runs, I am often getting passed on the uphills. On the bike, no one passed me on the outbound leg. Interesting. After the turn-around, I had the benefit of a pelaton made apparent to me. I rode by myself the entire day and never did catch a draft from another rider. On the way downhill, a group of ~6 riders passed me when I was on a flat; making me look like I had stopped working. Also, two people on one bike = better power to weight ratio. Two pairs of tandem riders smoked my butt on a downhill section. I was cruising at about 22 mph and they passed me like a Porsche on the Autobahn going around a Yugo.

All things considered, I had a good ride. For no training in the last month, I finished in a total time of ~6 hours, with my trip computer reading 5:33 of actual ride time.

For your visual entertainment, I have attached a recent picture taken with my new DSLR. I'm no Glenn T, but I'm having fun with the camera. KRK